From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Ah, Wisconsin. Home of the Packers. The Door County lighthouses. The cheese. The ice cream sundae. The democracy-hating Republican party still trying to destroy all that is decent and honorable there while establishing perpetual one-party rule.
Yeah, about that last thing. We should probably do something about that before 2020 rolls around. Sure, it's nice that Democrat Tony Evers beat Governor Scott Walker last year and helped stanch the bleeding. But there's a lot more organizing to be done, and the new and super-capable Democratic chairman of "the ultimate toss-up state," Ben Wikler, recently took to twitter to spell out the situation:
Wisconsin is on a knife's edge. Trump won here in 2016 with 22,748 votes, out of nearly 3 million. 0.7% margin. In 2018, Dems won the governorship (yay!) by 29,227 votes.1.1% margin. In 2019, GOP won state Supreme Court race by 5,981 votes. 0.5%margin. It'll be CLOSE.
Why is Wisconsin so close? It was once a bastion of the progressive movement. But the right has used it as a lab for crushing democracy & cementing power. Smashing unions.Imposing voter suppression laws. Opening floodgates to dark money.
By one analysis, Wisconsin's voter ID laws pushed down turnout by 200,000 in 2016—disproportionately African-American & Democratic voters. After Ds won the governorship, GOP called a lame-duck session & passed a middle-of-night bill to lock in the suppression.
In 2018,Democrats won 53% of the vote for State Assembly, but GOP got 63/99 seats due to extreme gerrymandering. Polling shows broad progressive consensus on healthcare, schools, clean water, clean government. We're a progressive state in right-wing handcuffs.
So what do we do? We have to beat Trump. We also have to make Wisconsin Trump-proof—and Walker-proof. We have to win in a way that builds enduring power. And that's exactly our plan. Here's how we do it.
Going in hard on local races changes the game. The right's been doing it for decades. Victory shapes local policy that touches peoples' lives. It builds the bench for higher offices. And it teaches organizers how to fight and win. Victory begets victory. We're gonna do it.
Read the whole thread—it's daunting, yes, but also motivating. This week's C&J "Energize An Ally" action item: help Ben rebuild the blue firewall by clicking here to contribute a few bucks and grow the total of the Wisconsin Dems' 2020 "Cheddar Bomb." As much as I hate to cede an age-old Maine saying to another state, it sure seems appropriate this cycle: As Wisconsin goes, so goes the nation. Let's show 'em we've got their back.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...[Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Note: In an effort to foster greater understanding among factions of the Daily Kos community, C&J is changing its tone from huffy to tart. The transition will be complete by mid-2020, and we expect minimal disruptions. Okay??!!! IS THAT FINALLY GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?!!! —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til you have to change your Daily Kos password: 1!!!
Days 'til the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland: 8
Fine levied against Facebook by the SEC for privacy violations: $5 billion
Percent chance that Ford knew there were transmission problems with the Focus and Fiesta but released them anyway, according to The Detroit Free Press: 100%
Percent of Americans who say another manned mission to the moon should be a top priority, according to an Ipsos poll: 8%
Percent in 1965 who believed a moon mission should be a top priority, according to a Gallup survey at the time: 31%
Percent who believe a top priority for the space program should be satellite monitoring of the earth to understand environmental changes: 52%
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Puppy Pic of the Day: "Booth called for his adult golden retriever, Jackson, who was supposed to run over with the engagement ring. But the dog caught wind of a squirrel and ran off into the woods..."
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CHEERS to cheerleaders from the great beyond. Thanks to last week's North Carolina hate rally, we now know beyond all doubt what Trump's reelection campaign theme is: If you don’t unconditionally worship and adore Me, then you hate America and you should leave the country. Bush-Cheney sang a similar tune (If you don’t reelect us, then you hate the troops and therefore hate America) in 2004, but this is idol worship on steroids. As the Republican machine, now as fully in bed with Putin as they are Trump, ramps up their "dissent is disloyalty" attacks, one of America's greatest Republican presidents dons his Rough Riders hat and charges up Bullshit Mountain to deliver a hard truth to the racist rapist-in-chief:
The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.
He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.
—Theodore Roosevelt
The Kansas City Star, 7 May 1918
You may fire when ready, Gridley.
CHEERS to takin' it to the streets. Puerto Rico's governor says he's not leaving office in the wake of damning evidence—and lots of it—showing he's just a crude, petty, entitled fraud. But yesterday the people of Puerto Rico begged to differ:
Hundreds of thousands of people occupied San Juan's biggest highway on Monday demanding the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló,in the island's largest protest in recent history. […] The"March of the People," as it's being called, has paralyzed the San Juan metropolitan area and the nerve center of the island's main shopping, banking and commercial districts.
The national strike, or "Par Nacional" in Spanish, came a day after Rosselló announced on Facebook that he would not step down as governor despite days of protests calling for him to do so, after almost 900 pages of leaked private chats set off a scandal on the island.
The chats revealed profanity-laced,misogynistic and homophobic comments as well as barbed and cynical remarks about different topics, including jokes about deaths following Hurricane Maria in 2017. […] Both island and federal authorities are conducting investigations into allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest in the Rosselló administration.
If all else fails, I suggest they tie a string to the handle of a plunger, fire it from a crossbow at his butt, and use the suction to literally pull him out of his office. As I recall, that came in handy with Steve Bannon.
CHEERS to great moments in gravity defiance. An American, an Italian and a Russian walk into a Soyuz capsule. American turns to the Italian and the Russian and says, "Hey, this sure beats being a minister, a priest and a rabbi walking into a bar, amiright?" Ha ha ha!!! C&J thanks Mitt Romney for sending along that fine baked chocolate goodie of a joke. But seriously… On the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing, Russia launched a Soyuz spacecraft into the black emptiness where no one can hear you scream, and by total coincidence it successfully met up with the International Space Station:
After launching from Site No. 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the same launch pad Yuri Gagarin used on the first human space flight in 1961, the crew performed a 4 orbit, 6.5 hour rendezvous and automated docking with the international outpost.
Given the single second launch window availability, the launch resulted in the crew being in space and on their way to the International Space Station 50 years to the minute after the Eagle lunar lander undocked from the Columbia Command Module of Apollo 11 and when the Eagle landed at Tranquility Base the Moon on 20 July 1969 at 20:17 UTC (16:17 EDT). […]
Launching today on a planned 8 to 9 month mission, [American astronaut] Dr. Andrew Morgan will remain on board the International Space Station for about three months longer than the typical NASA expedition crewmember, serving as a Flight Engineer for Expeditions 60, 61, and 62 before returning to Earth in Spring 2020 aboard Soyuz MS-15.
The new arrivals bring the total number of inhabitants at the space station to six astronauts. Seven if you include the befuddled Soyuz capsule cleaning lady just waking up from her unauthorized nap in the cargo bay.
CHEERS to a good man to have on Lincoln's team. On July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, the larger-than-life general who helped beat back the Trump crowd's traitorous ancestors by winning the Civil War (even though he fainted at the sight of blood—really) and then went on to spend a rocky, cronies-run-amok eight years in the White House, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y. at 63. Today we appreciate him for this nugget from the book Rating the Presidents:
He kept his own religious values and practice to himself.
In the larger view for the country, he believed in a strict separation of church and state, stating in his seventh annual message to Congress:
"As this will be the last annual message which I shall have the honor of transmitting to Congress before my successor is chosen, I will repeat or recapitulate the questions which I deem of vital importance which may be legislated upon and settled at this session. [...]
Declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres; and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation."
Go pay your respects here. But don’t leave him any cigars—they’re what killed him. Perhaps a nice salad.
JEERS to awful ophthalmologists. You think "doctor" Rand Paul is bad? You should know about John Tanton, the eye doc whose rabid white supremacy and anti-immigration policy ideas killed off immigration reform in 2007 and set the stage for the rise of Trump. To the heartbreak of no one but the deplorables, Tanton finally kicked the bucket, but not before doing more than a lifetime of dirty work on behalf of the haters:
Tanton established several groups calling for reduced immigration in the United States and his ideas have had a significant influence on the immigration debate, helping drive some of the immigration policies under President Donald Trump. He was described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement. […]
"I've come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that," Tanton wrote in a 1993 letter.
In 1997 interview with the Detroit Free Press, Tanton compared immigrants to bacteria.
I'd bet money his trip to the afterlife will involve taking the 'Down' elevator. But, darn it, I have this dumb rule about saying something nice about the recently departed. So here goes: he raised bees and made honey. Ah…the banality of evil.
CHEERS to purty rhymin' wurds. During this week in 1893, Katherine Lee Bates---a college-educated, latte-slurping Cape Cod liberal elitist---wrote the poem America the Beautiful after visiting an inspiring spot:
One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.
It was later set to the hymn "Materna" by Samuel Ward. But only because Snoop Dogg wanted ten million bucks for the rights to "We Just Wanna Party with You."
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Ten years ago in C&J: July 23, 2009
CHEERS to a heavenly show. Wow! Over in Asia, people were treated to an amazing sight when the sun disappeared for 6 minutes. Scientists believe it was either the longest solar eclipse of the century or Dick Cheney flying to Australia for vacation.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to coming in like a lion. Woo hoo! My zodiac sign—Leo—starts today! You know who's a Leo? President Obama. Neil Armstrong and 35 other astronauts. Robert Redford. Madonna. The Far Side creator Gary Larson. Loni Anderson. Steve Martin. Stanley Kubrick. Andy Warhol. Tom Freakin' Brady!!! And what do we (and you, if you're a roarer too) all have in common? Oh we hate to brag…
The Leo Woman is glamorous and regal. She isn't complicated—in fact she's more up-front and honest. She revels in the spotlight and often finds herself the center of attention. No matter how happy she is in her personal life, a Leo woman needs more. That usually means a career or, in some cases, an involvement in social or community affairs that showcase her creative interests and organizational skills.
The Leo Man [is] good-looking and personable and possess a swaggering grace that makes [him] attractive to women. They are friendly and good-natured, although they have a tendency to sulk. They have a strong ego and can seem preoccupied with their own concerns at times. Image is important to these men, and they take great care in cultivating just the right one for themselves.
…but brag we shall. Meow.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
Bill in Portland Maine redefines an American icon with the $60,000 2020 Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool
—CNBC
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